Women’s Hockey Update: June 28th, 2019

SKIF Nizhny Novgorod’s Karoliina Rantamäki in action against Biryusa Krasnoyarsk. (Image Source)

This June has been a bit of a quiet period for news in Russian women’s hockey, or at least it was until this week. Now, however, we have a coaching change in the Women’s Hockey League, the departure of one of the most famous players in the league’s recent history, and some other little bits and pieces as well. Read on…

One of the biggest pieces of news of the last couple of weeks in Russian women’s hockey actually came out just yesterday. SKIF Nizhny Novgorod, who pipped Tornado Moscow Oblast for the last playoff spot this season then put an almighty scare into eventual champions Agidel Ufa in the first round, will be looking for a new coach; Vladimir Golubobich, the team’s bench boss since 2016-17, is stepping to take another position (unspecified) with Dynamo Moscow of the KHL (h/t to Denis Osipchuk).

Vladimir Golubovich. (Image Source)

Golubovich has had an interesting career as a coach. He came to the women’s game late — in his 60s (he’s now 64), and after more than 20 years as a head coach at the top levels of Russian men’s hockey. He coached a number of teams in the old Russian Superleague, and was in charge of Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod and Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk in the KHL as well. At SKIF, he inherited a team undergoing a rebuilding program, and kept them on the right track, although they have not yet returned to their previous title-winning form. The likes of Vitoriya Kulishova and current Agidel Ufa forwards Ilona Markova and Polina Luchnikova came out of SKIF’s tremendous youth program and developed well in the professional league under Golubovich, so he will be missed.

There is no word yet on Golubovich’s replacement at SKIF.

***

And SKIF have suffered a significant departure from the playing staff in the last month as well. Veteran forward Karoliina Rantamäki, a legend of Finnish hockey, is leaving the team, and the league, after 12 seasons in Nizhny Novgorod (h/t to Meredith Foster). Rantamäki’s pro career goes back to the early 1990s in Finland, and she played her first of many World Championship tournaments in 1997 (her last appearance at the Worlds was in 2015, and her last last of five Olympic appearances was at Sochi in 2014). At SKIF, she won Russian titles with SKIF in 2008, 2010, and 2014, and at the height of her powers in the first half of this decade, she scored 203 goals in 132 games over four seasons. And she is not finished yet; Rantamäki will lace up the skates next season at home, for HIFK Helsinki in Finland’s Naisten Liiga, where the Playoff MVP award is already named after her.

Rantamäki’s departure brings an end, it would seem, so the Finnish era at SKIF. Beginning in the mid-2000s, a number of well-known names from Suomi passed through Nizhny Novgorod; among them, in addition to Rantamäki, were forwards Kati Kovalainen and Nora Tallus, defender Jenni Hiirikoski, and goalies Meeri Räisänen and Noora Räty. In addition to helping the team maintain a long run as a perennial title contender, the Finns also aided in mentoring a generation of young Russian players at SKIF, including the redoubtable Olga Sosina herself.

Rantamäki will be missed, not only at SKIF but in the Women’s Hockey League as a whole, and here’s wishing her all the best next season with HIFK!

***

Nicol Čupková. (Image Source)

Congratulations, meanwhile, are in order to Agidel Ufa forward Nicol Čupková, who was honoured this past week when she was named Slovakia’s Most Outstanding Women’s Hockey Player for 2019. Čupková joined Agidel in their second season of existence, in 2011-12, and has become one of the better snipers in the Women’s Hockey League. This past season saw her finish sixth in points in the league, and tied for sixth in goals, with a line of 35 gp, 20-24-44. She also played for Slovakia at the Women’s Division 1A World Championship, and helped the national team avoid relegation to Division 1B.

***

We are now just a week or so away from the first stirrings of activity in the 2019-20 hockey season, and two-time defending champions Agidel have become the first team to release the details of their pre-season preparations. The team will spend July and August training in Ufa and elsewhere in Russia, and in early September will take part in a pre-season tournament in St. Petersburg that will reportely involve some visiting teams from abroad (I do not yet have the list of participants, but await it with great interest). The 2019-20 Women’s Hockey League season will begin on September 12th.

***

And we’ll close off this post with a bit of suggested reading for you! Nathaniel Oliver of The Hockey Writers recently had a chance to talk to Dynamo St. Petersburg senior coach Yuliya Karpova, and you can read the full interview here. I highly recommend it — it’s an excellent read, and Karpova has some fascinating things to say!

***

Thank you for reading!